Graphic: In Focus: The Coal Lobby’s Fight for Survival

President Obama's climate-change plan strikes a blow to the U.S. coal industry at a moment when it's already weak. Thanks to the new glut of cheap natural gas—the burning of which produces only half the pollution of coal —the market is already driving power companies to invest in natural gas, rather than coal, to generate electricity. Obama's plan, which calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to mandate cuts of carbon pollution from new and existing coal plants, ensures that trend will continue. For the time being, power companies are closing old coal plants and not planning to invest in new ones. Scientists and environmentalists say the move is essential, since pollution from burning coal is the chief cause of global warming. Click Here to View